MEDIA HOUSES HARASSSING MURANGA COUNTY JOURNALISTS OVER ICU STORY BY ALLAN WANJIKU

Muranga ICU Centre which was built in 19 days. Some county journalists are receiving threats by the bosses for writing and airing the story and giving Governor Mwangi Wa Iria publicity.

Some media houses have launched attacks, intimidations and harassments to their Muranga County journalists for covering the biggest ICU center in Kenya, which has been constructed and equipped in a record of 19 days.

The scribes have been receiving threatening messages and calls from some of their bosses accusing them of ‘praising Governor Mwangi Wa Iria’ for the ICU story while others have demanded answers from the innocent journalists on why they have been ‘overcovering’ the governor.

The worried scribes from two different media houses have shared with KK online News that they don’t know their fate as their bosses have been on their necks over the ICU facility saying they only carried their duties religiously without malice and favoritism.

They are now being accused of being pocketed by the governor to do stories that do not exist while the scribes maintain that they have visited the facility, touched the equipment and talked to proffessionals before filing their stories.

“We try as much to explain to them that the ICU facility is not a cooked story, it has been constructed from scratch but they hear none of this, we are living under harsh times and we don’t know what is happening,” the correspondents told the KK Online News.

What the innocent scribes do not understand is the fact that there are people behind their woes and are using senior editors in various media houses to block any positive story from the governor who has since declared that he will have a say in the governance of Muranga County in 2022 and that he will also be in the bargaining table for 2022 succession politics.

Last week, KK Online News wrote an exclusive story on a well-choreographed strategy https://kkonlinenews.blogspot.com/2020/04/leaked-how-top-government-officials-out.html?m=1      between some rogue media house editors and some powerful government officials to discredit the governor’s efforts in the construction of the ICU facility and other measures.

The plot is aimed at denying him the publicity from the locals since according to them, the publicity would continue giving him political mileage and built his political profile which they want to destroy.

While it is good for journalists to ensure only balanced stories are published, it is wrong unprofessional and uncouth for senior editors to misuse their powers by being used by the powers that be as their gate keepers and killing the careers of young visionary and aggressive journalists.

We shall continue uncovering the dirty machinations and evil schemes aimed at silencing and controlling county scribes by their bosses who ought to motivate them.

Even after celebrating the World Press Freedom Day other day, it is emerging that journalists enemies are their enemies and not even the State or other organs as has widely been thought.